The present invention relates to a control system for a vehicle having particular, but not exclusive, application to a vehicle information system which varies the kind and quantity of information provided to a driver or other human operator dependent upon that person's other potential actions.
The actions of a car driver or other human vehicle operator can be determined relatively straightforwardly via sensors coupled to the controls of the vehicle, for example, the accelerator pedal, the gearstick etc. However, there is no known simple way of anticipating a driver's reactions or of sensing what may be a crucial moment in mid-journey when he or she least needs other distractions.
Systems for detecting changes in the stress level of a human being are known, for example, lie detectors. Such a device is described in Practical Wireless June, 1973 at page 134. The device comprises a number of electrodes to be held by a person undergoing interrogation and a bridge circuit for measuring the variation in skin conductivity between the electrodes. A substantial change in conductivity is a good indication that the person is lying. However such a technique requires a person participating in the lie detector test to hold separate electrodes which makes such a device unsuitable for anticipating the potential actions of a driver when controlling a vehicle.